Jeep Patriot Front Lower Control Arm Removal and Installation

In this video, I show how I replaced the Front Lower Control Arm on my Jeep Patriot 2009. I also show simple procedures to simplify the work and I give the information about the torque to apply to each of the 3 bolts used to hold the control arm. Added notes lower:

Sometimes a front lower control arm can be difficult replace so it is useful to be handy and well equipped.

The first problem is the rust, so spray some penetrating fluid and give it the time to penetrate.

If a ball joint stud is stuck in the knuckle attachment, the slotted side can be spaced out with a big chisel then it is easier to remove the ball joint.

There is less room to remove the rear nut of the lower control arm on the left hand side, so it is good to use a long 21mm box-end wrench to loosen it.

Make sure to have pry bars ready when removing or inserting the lower control arm.

Sometimes a mallet is required to fully insert the bushings in place.

Pin punches may be needed to hold and center the bushings.

If for any reason, the front and the rear bushings of the front lower control arm are not properly embedded, it is possible that the bushings center to center be off by 1 or 2mm.

Some front lower control arms are not fitting perfectly with the cross-member anchoring points.

New rubber bushing are very stiff and sometimes it is difficult to align them with the retaining bolts.

So a pry bar must be used on one side or the other of the front bushing to move the control arm and compress the rubber in order to center the rear bushing with the holes of the crossmember.

To respect the instructions from Jeep about the ‘’no weight or obstruction’’ I had to pull the knuckle assembly a little bit in the outboard direction to position the lower control arm and obtain the proper angle.